We propose to complete an ethnographic study of women addicts in San Francisco, California. One hundred women will be interviewed in depth individually, and there will be approximately 15 group interviews with five to six women who are acquainted with each other and have already been interviewed individually. Our objective is a conceptualization of the career in addiction on the woman opiate-user. We will explore the stages of her career in addiction: initiation, apprenticeship, the nature of continuing drug use (amount and cost of drug), support of habit, interpersonal relationships, family involvement, criminality, sense of self, abstinence, treatment and arrest. The impact of sex role orientation on the career will be an important consideration and guide the research.